


Kolivan: Legendary Defender

by Mysterious_slurp



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Langst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:49:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25581622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_slurp/pseuds/Mysterious_slurp
Summary: One-shot featuring Kolivan's POV on a standard Voltron mission and their treatment of Lance.My first fic
Relationships: Kolivan/Lance (Platonic or romantic), Kolivan/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 225





	Kolivan: Legendary Defender

**Author's Note:**

> Can be interpreted as platonic or romantic :)  
> This is my first fan fic so criticism is welcome!

Kolivan was rarely away from his blades. He had spent years either working on a Marmoran base or on missions. It was at the point where he felt mildly uncomfortable when he was anywhere else. Nevertheless, the paladins of Voltron needed his expertise on Galra ship formations in order to help plan their latest mission. There were around eight Galra carrier ships in an unusual formation headed toward a part of the star system that was rich in quintessance, and the Paladins had called him in to formulate an intercept strategy.

It was during a period where the humans were resting that Kolivan found himself, for the first time in a long time, with nothing to do. Their strategy for intercepting the carriers had been decided on, and the Altaens were steering the ship toward its destination. The Paladins were all occupied with various tasks that they seemed to enjoy. The green Paladin was making calculations and the yellow one was preparing sustenance. The red and black paladins were in their respective quarters after being told to rest by the Altaens. Apparently they were obsessing over the mission to the point of inefficiency. 

That left the blue Paladin, Lance, as Kolivan had been informed was his name. Lance had also identified himself as a sharpshooter, ninja, ladies man, daring bandit, and generally cool dude, amongst other titles. Given that everyone else simple called him “Lance” that was what Kolivan stuck with. Not that he ever used it when speaking to him. Kolivan referred to him as “the blue Paladin” since that was his title. However, there was something about the cub that had the Galran man almost catch himself using his name.

Lance had an air of approachability that Kolivan rarely saw. Granted this was probably because he spent most of his time deep in enemy territory, but still. The blue-eyed creature had a high level of energy that he projected onto anyone he spoke to. Unfortunately for him, his fellow castle mates usually did not appreciate this, with perhaps the exception of the older Altaen, who ironically seemed to almost mirror Lance’s spirited nature. Kolivan had lost track of all the different things that Lance had said to him. This may seem insignificant but the blade had a sharp memory and his job required him to listen carefully to everything his allies told him. Poor communication could result in death in his line of work. Yet Lance had given him jovial greetings, told him absurd and meaningless jokes, and often asked him about his day, to the point where he simply couldn't remember it all. This was in spite the fact that the days on board the castle ship were often similar. 

It had gotten to the point where the Marmoran leader would prepare his responses to Lance before the boy even spoke to him. Truly an enormous waste of his thoughts that should be put toward defeating the empire, yet here he was. He couldn’t remember the last time he truly enjoyed someone else’s company. Just the other day Lance spent five minutes talking to him about the various animals he had encountered in space. Kolivan had seen a fair few in his time, and Lance seemed fascinated by them all. When he told the cub about the Snimpf, a beautiful creature the size of an escape pod with wings similar to something Lance called a “butterfly”, the excited human had proclaimed that he would love to ride one into the next Voltron rally. He was a little less eager when he learned that the beasts were carnivorous and swallowed their prey whole. Kolivan had a slight chuckle at the cubs reaction to hearing that. 

Breaking out of this thoughts, the Galran man decided to head toward the training deck. It would be a good way to use his time and explore the Altaen training techniques. He had been there a few times to observe the Paladins in their sessions, but he had never used the deck himself. He was curious to see if he could learn anything that would be useful enough to justify teaching it to his blades. As he was walking toward his destination, he heard someone else walking down the hall around the corner from him, so it didn’t surprise him at all when he saw Lance after making a left turn.

“Hey there Kolivan!” Lance said cheerfully. “Where ya headed?” The cub and the older Altaen seemed to be the only two on board who were ever in a positive mood. At first the Blade leader had been unsure as to the purpose of their attitudes, but soon discovered that the other members of Voltron often moved more efficiently after and encounter with one or the other. The Blades were undeniably set in their ways, yet Kolivan found it intriguing to witness other forms of fluid teambuilding. “The training deck. I am out of useful tactical instruction to give until we arrive at our destination, so I am going to perform my daily Re’qua.” Lance looked confused. "Re’qua is simply what you would call “training” only specialized for Blades.” The boy’s face lit up. “Oh! I getcha. Going to practice all you’re awesome moves, Huh? Mind if I tag along?” The boy leaned in closer. “Who knows? We might just learn something from each other.” This was said with a conspiratorial grin. As though the two of them were in on some secret. While Kolivan doubted the young cub would have much to teach him, Lance could probably learn from watching him. “Very well”, Kolivan responded, “but do not get in the way. Watch until I instruct otherwise.” The blue paladin looked offended. “Kolivan, buddy, I am ALWAYS exactly where I need to be.” The cub flashed him a wide grin, and they headed toward the training room. 

Re’qua went by much as Kolivan expected it to. Lance watched as Kolivan went through his regime, then asked if he could try to imitate it. He was sloppy at first but quickly picked up with a few pointers. Lance was a fast learner. He did try to give it his own flair, yet Kolivan could tell he was listening. Even if he did call it “Zumba for warriors”. Kolivan had no idea what that meant but given the paladin’s tone it was meant to be an amusing statement. The two were considering trying some of the Altaen training programs when the Princesses voice rang through the room. “Approaching our destination, everyone to the front deck!”

By the time they arrived on deck, the others had already arrived. As soon as everyone was present, the black paladin began giving everyone their orders. The green and red paladins were to sneak through the air vents and place a disruptor on the central matrix of the ship. Once that was in place, the Princess and the yellow paladin were to make their way toward the backup matrix and take that one out as well. The black paladin was going to take an upper path and begin to head of soldiers and droids before the could see the others and sound the alarms. Kolivan would be doing the same on the lower path. That left lance, who was going to guard there escape rout with his rifle.

Kolivon frowned and examined the map of the ship. “Why not send the blue paladin in the vents toward the bridge? The ship is so large that even the bridge is a remarkable size. He could easily take up a vantage point to eliminate any commanders on the bridge, effectively cutting off the head of the operation and stopping commands.”

Lance, who had been looking at the ground, suddenly jerked to face Kolivan. His face portrayed nothing less than shock. When the Marmoran leader looked around the room he saw more of the same. Keith was, unsurprisingly, the first to speak up. “I know you’re new here, but we don’t just hand Lance instructions to take out commanders. And there’s a good reason for that.” Lance switched to a look of irritation and yelled “HEY! Not all of us are hotheaded psychos who don’t wait for that order and run in and do it anyway!” Before Keith could return with a scathing response, Allura stepped in. “Enough. We cannot ask Lance to perform such a task. That is simply not fair to him” 

Lance’s face shifted from anger to hurt. Even though her words were gentler, they seemed to hurt the cub more than Keith’s had. But it wasn’t until the Shiro chimed in to say that they should stick to the plan that Kolivan spoke again. “Why would you not assign him this task? Everyone else has essential parts to play. The cub is more than capable of this, so why not have him work to his very best abilities?”

At this point, the blue paladin had gone through an entire spectrum of emotions. He really did wear his heart on his sleeve, as Kolivan had once heard the black pilot put it. Lance was looking at Kolivan with genuine gratitude, something Kolivan had not seen since he sent a permanently injured Blade member back to her family. There was something raw in his gaze that provoked an emotion the Galran man was unfamiliar with. His thoughts were interrupted when the smallest paladin provided an in-depth argument as to why Lance guarding the door was essential, and the yellow pilot quietly stated that he wished he was lucky enough to be guarding the door. Shiro ended the debate by saying they were out of time and needed to move on with the mission as planned. Kolivan just shook his head. He saw through their arguments for the excuses they were. They simply did not believe Lance was capable of the task.

Once the mission was successfully over, Lance came to him before he could depart for the nearest blade base. At first he didn’t look him in the eye, only staring at the ground. “Hey, uh, Kolivan…I just wanted to say thanks. The boy looked up at him and spoke softly. “I mean…I know I’m amazing of course. It’s just nice to hear someone else say it. So thank you.” Kolivan looked into his eyes. “Young Paladin, do not doubt yourself”. Lance started to object but Kolivan carried on before he could speak. “Although your skills may differ from the others, that does not make them invalid. You have much to offer Voltron. If you continue your training you will do very well. It is unwise of the others to overlook you.” To Kolivan’s surprise, the cub had tears in his eyes. When was the last time someone had spoken positive words to him? Although on missions the Blade had a policy of the mission before the members, outside of that they were a close knit organization. It was what kept them alive. The only reason that policy worked was that the Marmorans were so close to one another, that loss was simply not an option and it pushed them to be their best. So Kolivan did what he would have done were Lance a young Galra. He put one hand on the boys shoulder and one on the back of his head. Lance’s eyes were wild with confusion as Kolivan gently pressed their foreheads together for a brief moment. “What the heck was that?” Lance asked with nervous laughter. Kolivan responded with: “Goodbye, I suppose. Stay strong Lance”. With that, he turned and boarded his shuttle. He had turned too quickly to see Lance’s shocked face at the use of his name.

“…Goodbye Kolivan…thank you…”

**Author's Note:**

> Protective Kolivan is so cute and something I don't really see explored a lot so I figured I would write some.  
> Thanks for reading! Again, criticism and suggestions are welcome


End file.
